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While I am not a big fan of Superman, the movie is important for DC; for superhero movies; for Zack Snyder, whose Sucker Punch tanked; and perhaps for huge budget blockbuster mentality in general. Superman will be an event film and DC is trying to prove they can make some comic book magic happen with any hero other than The Bat.

The film has a rumored budget of $175 million, which is not considered extremely high anymore, and it is not going to lose money (except by Hollywood accounting standards) after domestic and foreign plus home markets are considered. But what would it really have to do to be considered a success? Dark Knight Returns grosses? Marketing can run anywhere from half again to equal to the production budget and suddenly the film really costs $300 million and it pulls in 250 million domestic and it's considered a failure.

Zack Snyder is not known as a director of substance. All of his features are effects driven, action driven and facile at best when dipping into ethical or philosophical issues (if not downright misguided as many contend about 300 and Sucker Punch). [The Watchmen is a whole 'nother can of worms, but because of the original writer, not because of Snyder's direction.] This is not necessarily a bad thing, I have enjoyed his films up to Sucker Punch, which I have not seen, but Superman, at least in modern incarnations is possible a more complex character than The Bats. He grapples with being an alien, a god, alone (except for all of his surviving relatives, enemies, animals and random Kryptonians who show up for one issue) and responsible for ... truth, justice and a world way. Snyder does not seem to be the man to pull this off.

And DC, what successes have they had apart from Batman and Superman films? Not Steel, not Catwoman, not Swamp Thing, not Jonah Hex or The Watchmen (another Snyder film). Marvel has been cranking them out but if Green Lantern and Man of Steel fail to live up to expectations, DC will have to covertly keep cranking out films like Red, V for Vendetta, Road to Perdition and other imprints.

Nothing about this new film indicates that we are going to see anything special. Even the villain, revealed in the press release below, seems unlikely to be used in other than a superficial manner. Not that the villain couldn't be meaningful. There was one, apparently non-canon, run that certainly saw some ethical issues and a study of the nature of power but I would assume it is not to be the basis for this story.

Warner Bros released a press release with the cast and some spoilers, if you do not want to know who the villain is.

Click to reveal..

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures announced today that Michael Shannon will star in the role of General Zod in director Zack Snyder’s new Superman film, titled “Man of Steel.”

Snyder stated, “Zod is not only one of Superman’s most formidable enemies, but one of the most significant because he has insights into Superman that others don’t. Michael is a powerful actor who can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character, making him perfect for the role.”

As General Zod, Shannon will go toe-to-toe with Henry Cavill, who plays the new Clark Kent/Superman in the film. The main cast also includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Diane Lane and Kevin Costner as Martha and Jonathan Kent.

Michael Shannon was honored with an Academy Award® nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Sam Mendes’ “Revolutionary Road,” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Shannon was most recently seen in the award-winning HBO drama series “Boardwalk Empire,” from executive producer Martin Scorsese. He will next be seen in Sony Pictures Classics’, “Take Shelter,” from director/writer Jeff Nichols.

Charles Roven, Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Deborah Snyder are the producers of the film. The screenplay is being written by David S. Goyer based on a story by Goyer and Nolan. Thomas Tull and Lloyd Phillips are serving as executive producers.

“Man of Steel” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

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Lois Lane and Clark Kent just got their boss: Laurence Fishburne will play Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White in Man of Steel, EW has learned exclusively. White has traditionally been a hard-charging, old fashioned newspaperman, who relies on his ace reporters, Clark and Lois, to get the big scoop. Jackie Cooper played White in the Christopher Reeve-era Superman films, and Frank Langella took on the role in director Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns in 2006.

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Sucker Punch was extremely weak in the script/plot department (weaker even than I expected and I was going it with eye candy in mind) but hopefully this will fare better and have a strong story and script. I think if he's got a good story & script (Dawn of the Dead remake for instance) he can deliver a good movie.

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I think it is great that some of these upcoming super men movies really care about recycling. Obviously Superman and Spiderman are starting over and recycling their story lines, but it is also nice that they both care enough about the environment to use recycled tires for their suits.

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I don't mind the colors, but there is just something that looks sort of mean with this picture. Perhaps that is what they are going for or perhaps I am just seeing things as I also thought the same with the new JLA cover.

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I especially like how Wonder Woman's bustier is now made of steel plates. It's ARMOR now! Sure, it still only covers a fifth of her body, but it's ARMOR!

Beh. I don't mind dark or gritty comics, but I feel like superheroes...as a genre...are innately kind of silly. Trying to make them GRIM and SERIOUS is like trying to make Star Wars REALLY REALISTIC. Not only is it impossible, it denies part of what makes it fun in the first place.

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Anybody else get the odd impression of Superman as a dark puppetteer controlling the other heroes from that pic? I think it's the shadows/expression on his face and the way his hands are cast out with the fingers splayed ....

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I think it is great that some of these upcoming super men movies really care about recycling. Obviously Superman and Spiderman are starting over and recycling their story lines, but it is also nice that they both care enough about the environment to use recycled tires for their suits.

Missed this, but yeah, wtf is with the investment in rubber? I can't see Parker sitting down and sewing a costume made of vinyl/rubber whatever unless he was some kind of fetishist on the side. Same for Superman...wasn't his costume made by his mom? That's even kinkier on a whole other level.

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They have purposefully blacked out The Area in that picture. I can't tell if it's straight blue or red trunks.

Put me down for red trunks, and before you tell me I'm an old fogie I was in favor of Wonder Woman wearing actual pants for the thirty seconds or so that she was gonna. The yellow belt and red trunks break up the suit's solid blue nicely.

As for the picture, well: jokes about recycled tires aside (I have to ask where everyone's been since 1989's Batman if the rubbery look of movie superheroes is something they only just noticed) the whole picture communicates well just how powerful Superman is. Everything gives the impression of being freshly rent apart by bare hand alone. So that's one concern down.

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Beh. I don't mind dark or gritty comics, but I feel like superheroes...as a genre...are innately kind of silly. Trying to make them GRIM and SERIOUS is like trying to make Star Wars REALLY REALISTIC. Not only is it impossible, it denies part of what makes it fun in the first place.

Grant Morrison had the best reply to people who get too caught up in the grim details of superheroics.

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I have to ask where everyone's been since 1989's Batman if the rubbery look of movie superheroes is something they only just noticed).

Here is a picture of the suit worn in the 1989 Batman movie. That suit looks really silly without being lit.

Batman is just a regular guy with an unlimited amount of income. I wouldn't have a problem with his suit being rubbery, or made of an odd material to provide a body armor effect.

It isn't the rubbery look for Superman's suit that I have a problem with. It is the tread pattern that looks strange to me.

I don't even mind it in the blue of Supes' suit, but having the S be made the same looks strange to me. Here is the suit worn by Brandon Routh. It may not even look as good, since it isn't light as well as the one above, but I like the relationship between the S and the blue of the suit better.

When I look at the new suit the texture is so overpowering that I think of chain male. Thor or Cap can sport that, but it just doesn't work for me for Supes. As I said in the Hobbit thread, a picture of someone standing there is not what we'll see in a movie so perhaps it will work out great in motion.

I noticed when I first saw the new image, but damn is that cape a lot longer than the last version.

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The tread pattern's been on modern superhero costumes for a while, though. If you look at that Superman Returns outfit you can see the texturing on the tights and, more pronounced, on the emblem. You can see it on Sam Raimi's Spider-Man costume, on the outfits worn by the mutants in X-Men: First Class... it's not a new thing, at all. It's not even a new thing on Superman.

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Comic book fans will find anything they can to complain about and then make it the end of the damn world. So fucking what if the suit looks more like neoprene than cotton? So fucking what if it has texture to it instead of being smooth like in the comics (hey guess what those are paintings and real fabric has texture).

Even something as absurd as the Bat-Cod-Piece and Bat-nipples wasn't going to detract from my enjoyment of a film if that film is actually enjoyable. I liked X-men and X2 just fine despite the X-men wearing biker leathers. I didn't care for Superman Returns but it had nothing to do with the dark red on the suit instead of the more traditional primary red.

It's not like they are putting Clark Kent into a bright red banana hammock a blue baby doll tee and a red kerchief/cravat or something. Fabulous!

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"The removal of the red trunks will cause me to like Superman where previously I did not like him." - Nobody, Ever

Okay, I like the trunks (blah blah breaks up the solid blue with an aesthetically pleasing pattern blah blah like changing the flag blargh bluh worked fine for decades with trunks blawwwww) but that aside, Henry Cavill looks more and more like Superman the more I see of him, and the last thing I want to do is sound like one of those people grousing about Amy Adams as a blonde Lois or Laurence Fishburne as a black Perry White. I've heard a lot about this film's plot and cast and it fills me with about 95% anticipation and 5%"huh."

And yes, that is Zod, or at least, one of Zod's cohorts. Am digging the cape.

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And another, from the front with the cape. Kinda wish the yellow belt was there to provide some contrast but at least there is a textured "belt buckle" thing. Also Cavil seems to have a decent Kal-El (or is it Kal-L?) look going on.

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Gonna take some getting used to. But, though I may be alone in liking 'Returns' and even 'X3', I suspect I will enjoy this movie as well. Don't like his hair, but that never made or broke a flick for me before, can't imagine it doing so this time.

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So in advance of The Hobbit, they released the full trailer for Man of Steel.

My one gripe is that John Kent's response to his son's entire legitimate question is at best weak and at worst, immoral. I mean, I can see that he's struggling a bit with the answer and I do appreciate the notion of there being a conflict with his father, but I think "I don't know" would have been a better line.

That aside? No fooling, the hairs on my arms stood up when Superman took off for the first time. I'm sold on Henry Cavill with only a few words, and on Adams as Lois with a single shot, and even the costume looks better in motion than it does in stills. Mediations on the nature of power and the role of the outsider, AND airborne battles that shatter a city? Sold. (Like I wasn't already.)